
The Excavating Wilderness: A Orienting Trajectory Across Central Park proposal by Syracuse University graduate Jeff Kamuda investigates the tensioning between natural wilderness and the built environment. With the rise of modern civilization, a fluctuating tenet between humans and nature can be observed in its reincarnation of the urban park. Situated in New York City’s Central Park, the project introduces a set of natural phenomena through a unique and atypical approach, which in turn serves to stimulate a dialogue between the individual, the park, the city, and the cosmos. Stretching a mile across Central Park from Grand Army Plaza at 59th street to the American Museum of Natural History at 77th Street, the triparted project achieves a dramatic juxtaposition of subterranean experience combined with elevated architecture. Read more after the break.
The aptly named subterranean “Portal” serves as an astronomical device and historical archive. Envisioned as an ever growing repository of the moments of New York City, the exposed stone walls feature inscriptions of the history of the city. A truncated sphere suspended above the void below acts as an orientation device by aligning the observer with Polaris, constructing a metaphysical link between human and cosmos.
